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Indie Music Retailers Slow Sales Declines
12/14/2004 2:55 AM, Reuters
Todd Martens
The holiday mood at independent
music retailers is one of cautious optimism, despite Nielsen
SoundScan numbers showing that overall sales at U.S. indie
merchants were down 7.1% from last year as of Nov. 28.
In fact, that figure represents a major improvement
compared with years past: In 2003, indie merchants were down
14.9%, and in 2002 they were down 21.1%. Further, most indie
retailers Billboard contacted saw a slight sales increase this
year or stayed on par with their 2003 totals.
The improved numbers can be traced in part to strong
performances by a number of acts typically associated with
indie retail. Modest Mouse, for example, had spent a grand
total of three weeks on The Billboard 200 prior to 2004. Yet
its Epic album "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" has
tallied 35 weeks on the chart and will finish as one of the top
100 sellers of the year.
Additionally, such indie-friendly acts as Los Lonely Boys,
Franz Ferdinand and Taking Back Sunday hit it big, and the list
of smaller indie surprises is also impressive, from TV on the
Radio to Sufjan Stevens .
The indie world is doing so well, in fact, that the majors
are paying as close attention to the underground as they did in
the early '90s, gambling on such diverse acts as Le Tigre and
Death Cab for Cutie.
"It worries me, actually," says Rand Foster, who owns
Fingerprints in Long Beach, Calif. "These are the kind of
artists we've been playing for the past 10 years. It's great to
see them exploding, but that just means they'll all be
candidates for lowball pricing next time."
The sales decline may have slowed and the mass closings of
indie stores have leveled off, but predatory pricing tactics by
the likes of Best Buy and Wal-Mart remain the top worry. Even
retailers who experienced a sales increase in 2004 are
struggling with how to stay competitive in the new year.
Today's indie community is as vibrant as ever, thanks
largely to the Internet. Indie-focused blogs and such Web sites
as http://www.insound.com and http://www.pitchforkmedia.com are
spreading the word on acts ignored in the Sunday advertising
circulars.
"We had the least amount of major-label releases in our top
100 ever this year," says Dan Matherson, owner of
Philadelphia's Repo Records. Matherson says sales at his store
are up by two or three percentage points.
Foster says Fingerprints will finish the year with an
increase in the "small double digits," and John Timmons, owner
of Ear X-Tacy in Louisville, Ky., says his holiday sales are
besting 2003's by 15%.
A search for new ways to increase traffic led Criminal
Records owner Eric Levin to make some big investments in 2004.
He sprung for a $10,000 TouchStand kiosk and recently dropped
$1,800 on customized gift cards.
"If I'm going to keep competing with Tower and Best Buy, I
have to do these things," he says. "I had to choose whether or
not I was going to stock our shelves a little better or have
this fancy-pants thing."
So did Bob Fuchs, owner of Minneapolis' Electric Fetus. His
sales are matching those of last year, and in the hopes of
gaining an edge, he purchased a couple of Mix & Burn kiosks
from local distributor Navarre. So far, he says, they're a hit.
"We got them in right before Thanksgiving, and that weekend
we had about 40 people burn discs. People are going to burn
with or without me, so it's another resource. Or it could be
the first nail in the coffin, especially if these show up in
grocery stores."
Reuters/Billboard
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